I didn’t have the greatest Monday, so tonight I’m reflecting on the weekend just passed. So much done, and all so enjoyable!
There are some seriously major perks to my life.
Catch up with friends and family
The Swayns
I’m kicking myself for not getting any photos! Saturday morning started with an awesome breakfast down in Caloundra, visiting the Swayns. Amber and David, along with the entourage of the twins, Amelia and Bonnie, and solo male child, Jack, were all down from Townsville. We spent a few hours enjoying some good food and chatting. I picked Amber’s brains about babies and parenting in general, and getting tips on encountering rude ladies at the shops. It was awesome to catch up after so long!
Family
For lunch, I met my mum, two of my aunts, adopted aunt (one of mum’s best friends) and cousin for a bite to eat at Buderim. We ate at Hungry Feel Eating House, which I highly recommend! It was a mix of Italian influenced dishes, and I had an amazing polenta dish. They have some of my favourite wines from Stanthorpe as well – can’t wait to go back when I’m able to drink again!
When my aunt announced she was getting dessert, I had to cave in. I ordered this amazing salted caramel parfait, which was just divine!
Oh yeah – the company was pretty great too.
Coffee with Kim and Chere
Straight after lunch it was a dash to afternoon coffee with Kim and Chere. I ordered a hot chocolate (trying to keep the caffeine intake for the day low), and ended up with the largest hot chocolate I’ve ever seen. That thing was huge, and another meal in itself! Needless to say I was burping it up for the rest of the day.
It was so good to catch up with these girls. With both of them being parents and leading super hectic lives, it’s always extremely difficult to find a time when we’re all free (even though we don’t live far away).
Bike ride with the hubby
Sunday morning started with a ride on my awesome new cruiser bike! The hubby rode my old road bike, which I had retired from for a number of reasons:
- Being pregnant, I’m not keen on being clipped into a bike anymore. If I fall, then I’m falling hard. I don’t have the speed to get my foot unclipped from the pedals in time.
- I don’t want to ride on the roads anymore – I want the safer route of the footpath
- The riding position was more bent over, which made it extremely uncomfortable with my growing belly
Now, withy new cruiser it’s like riding an extremely luxurious truck! It’s so stable, the riding position is upright, and I’m able to ride on the footpaths. It ticked every box for me. On top of that I’ve got baskets and places to put my gear! No bags here, or the need for lycra with back pockets! Hmm…not that I would have fit anyway.
Nambour show with Vanessa
On Sunday, on a spur of the moment decision I headed to Nambour Show with Vanessa. I have to admit, it was slightly disappointing in that we pretty much covered everything in under a couple of hours. We had a dagwood dog (mandatory when visiting any show), and a thickshake later on to spoil ourselves. The animal pavillion made me feel uneasy as some of the cows seemed to me to a bit thin, so we didn’t spend much time there. The mini goats were gorgeous though! We wound things up with the pinup fashion show and dance, then headed over for lunch elsewhere for the afternoon.
All in all though, it was such a beautiful winter’s day that I was thrilled to be outside hanging out with a mate. It definitely wasn’t a day to be cooped up inside!
Smashing through some 52s
On top of all of the socialising, I actually found some time to finish off quite a few 52s!
Listen to an audiobook
I had scored the first book of the “Cold Justice” series by Toni Anderson through Book Runes (a free brook site) to read on my kindle. I had really enjoyed it, so when it came time to find an audiobook, I signed up for a free trial with Audible and went hunting the series. I found they offered the 3 books in one, so with my free credit downloaded books 1 – 3.
I listened to book 2, and after getting used to the whole “audiobook” thing, found it super enjoyable! I actually started making excuses for when I could wear headphones around at home or go walking, just so I could listen to the book. I forgot to cancel my membership though, so paid for a second month with audible. I’ve used the opportunity to get books 4 – 6 in the series too! I’ve now put my membership on hold, and when it’s due to renew again in September I’ll decide if I want to continue from then. I’ll be at the point of getting close to starting maternity leave then, so I may be on the hunt for some more books to entertain myself until the baby comes.
Side note – the audible app on the iPhone seems pretty great. The only annoying thing I’ve found is when listening to the series it can be a bit tough to tell where one book ends and one begins. The chapters are just in numbered order – there weren’t any titles at all.
Visit someone I haven’t seen in a while
I think both the visits with the Swayns and Kim and Chere counted for this one – as per the above!
Plant something in the garden
The hubby picked up some plants at the market on the weekend. Specifically for me, he got some sugar snap peas, since I love eating them.
After a massive day, I finished things up with planting the seeds. I have my own special pot, even complete with my own worm!
Now to just make sure the plant survives!
Eat fried rice with chopsticks
In a bit of a throw back to our honeymoon last year, I really wanted the opportunity to master chopsticks. I figured fried rice was a good challenge.
I probably lasted about half of the bowl, and there was a bit of youtubing searching going on. In the end hunger won and I finished the bowl with a fork.
But I did it!
So all up, quite the productive weekend!!
We’re famous! Haha
I can teach you the trick to eating with chopsticks. A Vietnamese friend taught me.